Inspired by albertīs thread, I tought it was time I tried to be usueful to this site, so Iīm gonna try to post something I hope, at least, wonīt be a total waste of bandwidth.

Iīll talk about "the dreadful gloves" drill.

It is not uncommon in spanish full-contact sports classes (boxing/kickboxing/MT...) for this kind of drill to be the core of the class, at least the core of the technical part of the class. The objetive of this drill is to focus on the technique first, and speed and endurance second. More or less, it goes like this.

First off, the instructor has to explain the technique. For beginners class, it has to start simple. Using kickboxing as an example, letīs say that we start with this combo: straigth left (stepping to close the distance), right hook, left leg roundhouse to the middle section or head, depending on the executionerīs flexibility.

The people at the class pair themselves, facing each other, while one holds the gloves in the proper position for the technique to be executed. For this combo, and assuming both are on a right-handed guard (left side of the body forwarded) the partner who would be on the "receiving end" of the technique should hold his hands as the following:

-Left hand as next as possible to his head, palm facing his partner, where the hipotetically target of the opunch should be.
-Right hand as next to his head as possible, with the thumb facing himself (for the hook), same as above.
-At the time of the kick his hands should cover whichever part the partner is hitting, similar to a regular block.

This drill starts slow, to get the technique straight, progressively increasing the speed. The one executing the technique should keep his guard up at any moment, and his partner should jab him ramdomly, specially if he opens his guard, thus enforcing him to be always aware of incoming counters.

Now, when to switch roles? At some schools the instructor checks the time and yells "switch" when he considers it adecuate, in other schools they prefer to perform the technique for a set number of times, i.e. 5 or 10, and then switch, and others prefer one time each. At my old gym, we used the three.

For beginners class Iīd go with one time each, so they can get a try of the technique as soon as possible, but once one has the grasp of the technique, Iīd go with a high set number (no less than ten) or a set time (1, 2 or 3 minutes, no more).

The techniques should be executed as fast as possible, and with power, but having in mind that this is, basically, a technical drill. Weīre not trying to break our partnerīs arms. Also, we shouldnīt be doing this static, that is, if available, we should be moving around, working the footwork, as if we were sparring. The partner holding the gloves should have his hands down or in a regular guard, as we circle each other, and, all of a sudden, put them into place. At this time we should execute the combo as fast as possible, and with enough power.

After the drill has been fullfilled by both partners, itīs time to add something more into the combo.

An example, following the aforementioned drill, would be a counter by the partner holding the gloves. Letīs say a low kick that we should block. Thus, the drill would be straight left, right hook, left leg high kick, low kick block.

And so on we can continue to develpo the combos, making sure that:

-The attacks are not performed by just one of the partners, that is, no long combos in which one does nothing but attack, never defending himself from counters.
-We should try, in different classes, different combos, so weīre not training one-dimensional fighters (always starting with a left, and always finishing with a high kick).

The possibilities are almost infinite. Enjoy!

FURTHER ANOTATION: This type of drilling can, and should, be combined with other types of training. After if has been fullfilled, we can train the same drill with the pads and the heavy bag, alternating each other if there is not enough equipment for everybody. Also, we should try to execute it in sparring, which is usually done at the end of class.

1/12/2006 11:36pm,

j416to

Lights Out

I'm curious, other than allowing the partners to switch back and forth between offence and defense, what are the preceived benefits of doing this drill with gloves, rather than pads?

I can understand why you would do this if your class was full of beginners who were not quite ready to hold the pads, or if your club didn't own enough pads for everyone to use, or if your class time was too short to allow each student enough time to drill, on their own, against someone holding the pads for them. But for an advanced class, with enough time and pads for everyone to use, what technical advantage is there to doing this drill with gloves and not with pads?

And how often are people hurt during these drills? I've seen people hurt their arms/wrists while they were holding Muay Thai pads, during round house kick drills. I would think that the chances are high that someone would eventually hurt themselves preforming these drills, over and over again, with just gloves.

1/12/2006 11:44pm,

Torakaka

one of the benefits I've seen of it in my class is the ability to react (as a pad feeder) in a more realistic manner to the attacker, making for a more realistic drill over all. Being able to go back and forth and keep everything up beat makes the drills just that much closer to actual fighting.

When doing these drills in class I am generally able to hit with solid contact on my punches though I tend to control my kicks. Being able to hit pads, and hit them hard is good too, but I think they're both valid and useful exercises, and not just for beginners.

1/13/2006 12:03am,

j416to

Kidspatula

Do you just wear your normal sparring gloves when you perform these drills? Or do you wear those special focus mitt boxing gloves?

And have you fought yet, with 10 oz fight gloves? I'm curious to know how you compare the feel of these drills to throwing punches with 10 oz gloves. Wearing 16 oz gloves when you spar makes good sense because you don't want to hurt your partner. But I'm assuming these drills aren't full contact, and are meant to be as close to sparring as possible. But I'm guessing that you still do these drills with 16 oz gloves? Or maybe you don't?

1/13/2006 12:06am,

Torakaka

Quote:

Originally Posted by j416to

Kidspatula

Do you just wear your normal sparring gloves when you perform these drills? Or do you wear those special focus mitt boxing gloves?

And have you fought yet, with 10 oz fight gloves? I'm curious to know how you compare the feel of these drills to throwing punches with 10 oz gloves. Wearing 16 oz gloves when you spar makes good sense because you don't want to hurt your partner. But I'm assuming these drills aren't full contact, and are meant to be as close to sparring as possible. But I'm guessing that you still do these drills with 16 oz gloves? Or maybe you don't?

yes, we do these drills with 16oz gloves. Why should this matter?

1/13/2006 1:25am,

j416to

Kidspatula

This is going to sound stupid. But I get really lazy when I've been sparring too much with 16 oz gloves. It's so much easier to block things and cover, with 16 oz gloves. I'm always getting hammer when we suddenly switch over to 10 oz gloves, because my hand placement is all off.

1/13/2006 1:29am,

Torakaka

Quote:

Originally Posted by j416to

Kidspatula

This is going to sound stupid. But I get really lazy when I've been sparring too much with 16 oz gloves. It's so much easier to block things and cover, with 16 oz gloves. I'm always getting hammer when we suddenly switch over to 10 oz gloves, because my hand placement is all off.

interesting, I haven't heard of this before. I've not used anything but my 16oz gloves, so I can't really contest this with personal experience.

edit: though I must admit, it does sound like an awfully strange side effect. I wouldn't imagine the gloves being a little thicker would make a huge impact.

1/13/2006 8:39am,

Lights Out

Quote:

Originally Posted by j416to

I'm curious, other than allowing the partners to switch back and forth between offence and defense, what are the preceived benefits of doing this drill with gloves, rather than pads?

Kidspatual has answered that already. Also, targeting the gloves helps accuracy, IMHO, because the target is smaller than with your regular pad. Of course that could be compensated with focus mitts.

I feel that the purpose of this drill is to keep the class as dinamic as possible, avoiding the cool down and helping to develop endurance.

As Kidspatula said, it also resembles more sparring than the pads. With the pads you can train attack combos effectively, but this drill is more effective to train defense IMHO.

Iīve pointed it out before, but it bears repeating: this drill does not susbtitute pads and heavy bag work, and, of course, sparring. Itīs a complement.

Usually, this drill is more "technical" if I may say so. When we do pads (usually after this drill) we donīt work on combos as we do with this drill. Instead, we work specific techniques, like the roundhouse, or more simple combos (one-two, or one-two-kick).

Now, it is very important to spot the point at which this drill stops being a technique drill and becomes a McDojoish set "secnario". Tha is, altroguh we can complicate this drill adding supposed reactions of the opponent (like a lowkick counter, or a one-two counter), itīs imperative to keep it real, keeping the overall techniques to a minimum.

I forgot to add that itīs easier with this drill to train the switch from striking range to the clinch.

Quote:

Originally Posted by j416to

I can understand why you would do this if your class was full of beginners who were not quite ready to hold the pads, or if your club didn't own enough pads for everyone to use, or if your class time was too short to allow each student enough time to drill, on their own, against someone holding the pads for them. But for an advanced class, with enough time and pads for everyone to use, what technical advantage is there to doing this drill with gloves and not with pads?

So far Iīm by no means and advanced stundent. Thus I cannot answer that. You have answered yourself the benefits of this drill, at least some of them, in your previous paragraph.

Quote:

Originally Posted by j416to

And how often are people hurt during these drills? I've seen people hurt their arms/wrists while they were holding Muay Thai pads, during round house kick drills. I would think that the chances are high that someone would eventually hurt themselves preforming these drills, over and over again, with just gloves.

So far, no one in my class has been really hurt. Sure, your arms may hurt a little with this drill. Also, it servers, for beginners, to get acustomed to hits coming your way.

I was very afraid the first times I did this drill. Until then, I didnīt know what was blocking a roundhouse with my hands (gloved, of course). Then I was like "hey, itīs not as scary as I think it was going to be, Iīm still alive".

From what Iīve seen it is more possible to get hurt with the pads than with this drill.

EDIT:On the 16 or 10 oz. gloves.

Most people at my gym, myself included, are/were too cheap to have more than one pair of gloves.

I use 10 oz. gloves myself, and most people used 12 oz. gloves. Anyway, Iīve heard people saying the same thing, the 16 oz. gloves are way bigger than the lighter ones, and it is easier to block and cover with them. These people said that they trained with lighter gloves, because at amateur fights they use the 16 oz. They felt the extra weight, but if they can defend and cover properly with 10 oz. gloves, with 16 their defense was way better.

For the record, I bought 10 oz. gloves because I hadnīt the slightest idea of how much should they weight.